Since at least mid-2023, Russian special services have used Telegram channels, including the large pro-Russian 'Grey Zone' channel linked to Wagner mercenaries, to recruit Europeans for sabotage, arson, spying, and assassination missions aimed at destabilizing Western societies. An undercover journalistic operation posing as a recruit revealed communications encouraging Molotov cocktail practice, arson of military vehicles and fuel depots, espionage on NATO bases, and murder for payments up to $10,000 per mission. Security officials from Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Austria, and others confirm these methods match cases they have investigated. Arrests and convictions in Estonia, Latvia, Germany, and Poland over recent years involve Telegram-mediated recruitment by Russian intelligence agencies, particularly the GRU. The attacks aim to cause public fear, sow social discord, and shift political power away from Ukraine-supporting governments. Telegram has blocked some related channels in the EU after pressured by authorities but continues to serve as a recruitment venue. Estonia’s KAPO and other agencies monitor these ongoing threats closely. Officials describe the tactic as "terrorism in its purest form" with low recruitment success but minimal cost to Moscow. This represents an active hybrid warfare campaign by Russia leveraging social media to conduct criminal proxy sabotage and violence on European soil.

Since at least mid-2023, Russian special services have used Telegram channels, including the large pro-Russian 'Grey Zone' channel linked to Wagner mercenaries, to recruit Europeans for sabotage, arson, spying, and assassination missions aimed at destabilizing Western societies. An undercover journalistic operation posing as a recruit revealed communications encouraging Molotov cocktail practice, arson of military vehicles and fuel depots, espionage on NATO bases, and murder for payments up to $10,000 per mission. Security officials from Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Austria, and others confirm these methods match cases they have investigated. Arrests and convictions in Estonia, Latvia, Germany, and Poland over recent years involve Telegram-mediated recruitment by Russian intelligence agencies, particularly the GRU. The attacks aim to cause public fear, sow social discord, and shift political power away from Ukraine-supporting governments. Telegram has blocked some related channels in the EU after pressured by authorities but continues to serve as a recruitment venue. Estonia’s KAPO and other agencies monitor these ongoing threats closely. Officials describe the tactic as "terrorism in its purest form" with low recruitment success but minimal cost to Moscow. This represents an active hybrid warfare campaign by Russia leveraging social media to conduct criminal proxy sabotage and violence on European soil.